AMD: Manufacturing is on time and on schedule

During a meeting with analysts on Monday, AMD’s director of Manufacturing Technology, Tom Sonderman, announced that the company is still on schedule to hit its deadlines to complete its transition to 65nm process technology later this year and to introduce its first 45nm on time as well.

Currently, AMD produces its 65-nanometer processors at its two main fabs in Dresden, Germany. One facility, Fab 36, is already on line and producing these processors, while Fab 30 is on schedule to fully convert from 90-nanometer to 65-nanometer by later this year. When the 65-nanometer revamp is complete, Fab 30 will be renamed Fab 38.

In addition, Sonderman told analysts that AMD is on schedule to produce its quad-core Opteron processors, codenamed "Barcelona," in volume at the Fab 36 facility by the middle of this year.AMD continues to struggle behind Intel, and hope their focus on "elegant efficiency" approach to manufacturing will give them some leverage against its rival, by offering the "native" and more elegant design of four processing cores on a single piece of silicon, on the 65-nanometer process. Intel on the other hand, has beaten AMD on rolling out newer chips and will ramp up its own 45-nanometer manufacturing processor later in 2007, ahead of AMD’s scheduled release in mid-2008.